I Couldn’t Believe it!

As a new business owner, challenges are sure to be pop up as you are most likely handling multiple roles within your organization. For many of you, social media marketing is a major one.

But as you grow though and you will, you’ll then fill certain positions. New ones will eventually be implemented to sustain your own growth. After its all said and done marketing is pivotal to every business.

Yet one of the things that we as entrepreneurs tend to place on the back-burner is our company’s image and brand, focusing our time mostly on our clients and/or customers.

And while there is nothing wrong with that, in order to have continued growth we must always continue to be where the attention is.

After all, I like to think we are in business to be of service and make an impact.

Which is why I couldn’t believe it when Dorothy Stringer, CEO of Universal City North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce invited me to chat about Social Media and Social Buzzn’s overall mission.

I recently joined my local chamber to start from within my own community and help brick-n-mortar businesses in North Hollywood and its surrounding areas with their online presence.

So many are missing out on all the attention online and losing the edge to competitors running ads and staying top of mind with their desired audience.

But more about that in the actual interview.

This was also a great opportunity to talk about my vision my digital agency for my company’s mission and my passion for helping people achieve their desired life which for many of us begins with what we do for a living.

Episode 30 – Marlon Aquino Owner of “Social BuzzN”

DURATION: 36:37 Minutes

Dorothy Stringer: 00:04 Hey everybody. Welcome to another edition of Chamber Chat. I am Dorothy Stringer. I am your hostess for our little discussion and I’m also the Executive Director of the Universal City, North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. And today we’ve got an interesting young man here. He has a variety of different talents, which we’ll get into in a second, but he’s here to talk about his business. He’s one of our newest members of the Chamber and I’m real proud to have him aboard. He’s done just in the short time that he’s been with the Chamber; he’s done a lot of things for the Chamber. He’s very generous with his time and helping us, so I’m sure he’s going to be that kind of businessman for your businesses. He owns a business called Social BuzzN and his name is Marlon Aquino. Hi Marlon.

Dorothy Stringer: 00:59 Thank you for joining us. Let’s talk a little bit to first intro, the segment, what is Social BuzzN, and what is that business?

Marlon Aquino: 01:09 Social BuzzN is a social media-marketing agency that leverages the attention on social media to turn engagement in to sales.

Dorothy Stringer: 01:18 Okay. So in English, if I am a business owner, what, what are you going to do for me?

Marlon Aquino: 01:23 We run ads for businesses on social media to capitalize the attention that’s on there to hopefully bring them back to your website or bring them back to a sales page or for most brick and mortar businesses, get that foot traffic in the door.

Dorothy Stringer: 01:41 What brought you to California? You’ve been here for a little while now, right?

Marlon Aquino: 01:45 I’ve been out here for about seven years now. My parents migrated from the Dominican Republic and I was really young (4years old), moved to New York City, from there then moved to Florida. And when I finished college, I decided I was going to pursue acting out here in Los Angeles, which is what brought me out here.

Marlon Aquino: 02:05 Yes, actually gone very well. I can say that I’ve been on a couple of shows. I currently just finished recording Lucifer, which is on Netflix, so you can actually catch that most recent season now. I’m pretty busy on there as well, but I’m very passionate about entrepreneurship and pretty much utilizing all the areas of expertise in my life.

Dorothy Stringer: 02:24 So how did you become an expert in social media? What drew you to that particular field?

time at AT&T working as a business expert where I would deal with businesses that wanted to bring their business online either through, what do you call it? So, there are wireless companies for those with 50 or more lines. What I realized is that there were a lot of things we’re missing in business owners. They were looking to just catch the attention. They don’t know exactly how to capture the attention that was on social media. I saw there was a gap there and so it actually motivated me to fill the gap because a lot of the business owners are forties, fifties and above. And social media is something that’s actually just came out maybe 10 years ago. If that, so it’s a lot of shady area that they don’t know how to really understand. So that’s where I come in to actually give them a voice and some clarity.

Dorothy Stringer: 03:21 You mentioned earlier that you’re very passionate about entrepreneurship. What is it about your makeup that makes you want to own a business rather than be a businessman? Be In a business?

Marlon Aquino: 03:39 Well, I’d have to say that actually begins back from, I actually take that from my parents. My father, like I said, we come from the Dominican Republic. We had nothing when we started out. I think one of the first jobs my grandfather had was cleaning toilets. Just to see the humble beginnings that our family had to the strive that my father did, where he’s gone from nothing; he was selling cars for 10 years. From there, he started his own mortgage business in Florida. From there he started doing real estate, when things started going bad, he hopped into another business. He’s currently the owner and director of a preschool slash kindergarten in Tampa, Florida. So I seen the capabilities that us humans have, as far as, creating the life that we want. And of course, no place like America allows us to have the opportunities that we have here to make things happen in a short amount of time really, because in other places, I could take some people years or a lifetime to do, what we can do here in half the time in the U.S. I’ve seen what the power of the American dream.

Marlon Aquino: 04:48 Oh yes, of course. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

Dorothy Stringer: 04:52 Your Dad was a great inspiration to you. That’s amazing that he did all of those things.

Marlon Aquino: 04:57 Yes, it’s one of the main things. I know you are also an artist. He played the saxophone in the past; he’s also done a number of things and only showed me that you don’t have to limit yourself to one thing. If you’re passionate about more than one, you can find a way to make everything work together. And essentially there are people out there that just need our help. And the best thing we can do is… There’s a quote that I like, “It’s how we make people feel this stays with them, not what we say.”

Dorothy Stringer: 05:25 That’s right. I’m sure you can tell already why this Chamber loves Marlon. He’s just a very passionate young man. He’s very a real, and we’ve just adopted him. He’s like our son now. No offense to Dad Aquino, but we sort of adopted Marlon. So let’s talk a little bit. So I mentioned earlier, let’s say that I own a business. Now we have two schools of thought, because I do a lot of social for our businesses in the Chamber. That’s kind of why Marlon and I sort of clinched and hooked up because we talk the same language. I would say that there are two schools of thought for our businesses in the Chamber. There are some that think that they have got a handle on their social media, but you and I both know that it’s very difficult to drive your business and do social media. It’s very hard to wear all those different hats. And social media almost is a nine to five job on its own, especially if you’re doing Twitter and all those other things. Let’s say your first potential client walks up and says, I’m doing social media for my business and I don’t really see where I would have to pay extra money to hire you. Your response would be?

Marlon Aquino: 06:54 Well, that’s the case for some of the business owners that are posting once a day on Facebook. They’re not really keeping in mind the times that they’re posting. Keeping in mind when is it that most of their users are on the actual platforms or which ones? So they could be posting on Facebook knowing and not knowing that maybe their demographics if it’s younger, or possibly on Instagram or Snapchat and not Facebook or vice versa. So, you know, one of the things I tell business owners is that, the way that the algorithm works with these social media platforms is that, you could have a thousand followers, but the organic reach that Instagram or Facebook gives you is maybe 6%. So that means you’re maybe, reaching a handful of people really. So without paid advertising, you won’t even get, to reach your full followers. Now only that, but other new ones who maybe don’t know of your business in your local area. So it’s very important to not just rely on the organic and the free stuff, but to compliment that with some paid advertising to reach your full capacity and not only that, reach the newer people that would also be interested in your product or service.

Dorothy Stringer: 08:08 And you’re also a content creator. So what would you say about, do you think, and this isn’t to put the, the business owners down, God bless all of you that you’re trying. You should at least try, but, without really understanding what kind of content will work on a post. Would you say that most are just sort of wasting their time?

Marlon Aquino: 08:34 Oh, certainly a 110% because it actually works against you when you’re just posting content that your audience doesn’t like. So if you’re posting, even unto you’re 200 followers and you’re posting something that isn’t geared to what they want to see, and if you’re just selling, selling, selling to them, and you’re not educating or doing some form of entertainment for them, then going to lose them. And what actually ends up happening is that the algorithm works against you and it starts showing your posts to less and less people in your following. To a point where it’s almost like you don’t even exist on the platform. So it’s really extremely important for them to really focus on content. And a lot of times it really is about just honing in on what are the pain points, what are those, those desires that you know, your customers are looking for, what are their benefits?

Marlon Aquino: 09:18 You know, it’s not always about the feature or the product itself or more about how are our products and services making the lives better of the people who we are trying to reach.

Marlon Aquino: 09:48 Well, it’s not if you’re presenting in a way where you’re setting up the place for the environment of the location that you’re at. I remember being young, I hated going to the dentist office, the idea of someone going into my mouth. The amazing thing about, for example, video, when you’re creating content, the video form, is it allows for people to actually see the nurturing factor that goes into some of these dentists. How they take care of you, the patient, and make you feel comfortable and happy and nothing is going to compare to the visualization of seeing someone nurture you. Oh man, that person seems like he really cares for that person. He’s gentle, he’s taking care of them, and a lot of that, you know, speaks for itself. If you’re just putting a picture of a person, of just, you and your staff, that’s great. If you have a follower, they’re going to keep scrolling through the feed and not stop. If maybe, you’re putting a video of a before and after, even the image of before and after will be more effective than just posting a picture of you and your employees, which is what most businesses do. They’re always either selling some kind of promotion or some kind of sale and not, again, all these other factors that go in about at least trust and credibility, which is like, well, when I go into a doctor’s office, I want to feel taken care of. I want to feel that they have my best interest. So if you’re creating content that is showing that, demonstrating that to people that don’t know their business, I always say their guard is going to drop and it’s just going to make it a lot more comfortable for me to want to go in see your practice. So it’s very important to be utilizing content as far as video, the right kind of video. And of course, social media has all these other great platforms like an Instagram, you could do live, you can go live on Facebook as well. And that’s been very effective for dentists because nothing is better than seeing an actual patient in there happy, smiling. I’m seeing, like I said, the way they’re getting taken care of, the nurturing that’s going on. A lot of people call immediately and start booking appointments with their dentists. Utilizing stuff like that is really what is going to make you stand out from the crowd.

Dorothy Stringer: 12:28 You also have a way that you would be able to set up their social media so that they can capture leads right from their social media. And you’d be able to set that up for them as well.

Marlon Aquino: 12:42 Yeah. Right from within Facebook. If you have a website, which is everybody, you don’t have a website, that’s a big problem. Most businesses aren’t going to be taking serious if you don’t have a website. And Facebook allows you to put in a code on the backend of the website, which allows you to track all your visitors and of course that means that it allows you to keep following up, with those people that have shown some kind of interest in your business. And Facebook [inaudible 00:13:07] is fantastic for dentist’s office which you were just speaking, real estate agents, any business really needing leads because they have an objective there for lead generations where it allows you to put an offer out there to people and it automatically populates all of their information. All they have to do is click the submit button and you already have their information, which allows you to follow up with them later on. There’s no better way to really stay in front of people then utilizing certain objectives like that on Instagram, which is the lead generation.

Dorothy Stringer: 13:38 Talk a little bit about the right social media for your business. For example, if you are a very, visual business, maybe Instagram and Facebook would be the better platform for you. But let’s say that I used to have a client who was a security specialist. He wasn’t very visual. So what social media would’ve been best for him?

Marlon Aquino: 14:08 For him per se, specifically, if he’s in security, then of course Instagram is definitely not the platform because of demographics on Instagram are of a much younger demographics or probably don’t care as much for security as someone, that’s a little older, maybe someone in their 30 and above might care more about security, someone moving into their homes. So in that case, the platform for you, it’s going to be Facebook. If you’re posting on Instagram, you’re going to not just waste money, but you’re going to waste energy and time and so it’s about doing the proper research. Right now, it’s a lot of women in Pinterest as well, so if your business really geared towards targeting women, of really any age that you’re going to find a lot of them there.

Marlon Aquino: 14:53 If you’re targeting millennials and a lot of the younger teens, you’re going to find them on Snapchat. So if your business, is maybe promoting some kind of game or anything like that. That’s where you want to advertise. And those platforms are extremely cheap to advertise in as opposed to trying to utilize PPC like Google. I think the one thing where I that I try to get to all my business clients into right now is YouTube, because more people are watching YouTube these days. They are watching TV. And right now again, it’s one of the most inexpensive platforms to really advertise and get your business brand awareness to go up. If you don’t get in front of people, no one’s going to know of your business. And the problem with what traditional forms of advertising, like billboards and TV is that no one’s really paying attention to those. If you’re driving on the streets and there’s a billboard, you’re driving past it, you’re watching TV and you’re watching a show, when the commercials come on, you’re pausing and you’re doing something else until the commercials are over. So on social media, everyone’s on their phone, whether they’re at work and not at work, they’re stuck in traffic. Most of the time…

Dorothy Stringer: 16:00 They shouldn’t be on their phone if their in their car but…

Marlon Aquino: 16:02 They shouldn’t be, but it happens and I’ve seen it so it just allows an opportunity for businesses to really just get in front of the eyes of their potential clients and customers.

Dorothy Stringer: 16:15 You can tell we’re having a very interesting conversation here. I want to go to break, but before I do, I just want to say, you mentioned YouTube. It’s free to get your own YouTube channel. It’s absolutely free. And most social media is far less expensive than traditional advertising. Even if you hire somebody like Marlon and you pay a little bit for advertising on social media, if you have ever paid for any type of marketing at all, social media is the least expensive of any type of marketing. I just want to put that out there and to put, if you don’t have your own YouTube channel, you should.

Dorothy Stringer: 16:58 It’s a must. It’s an absolute must. And then, Marlon would be the guy to show you how to use it. So we’re going to talk a little bit about how we’re going to expose Marlon, in a bad way. We’re going to expose Marlon to the community in about a week. We’re going to talk a little bit about that when we come back, but right now we’re going to break.

Dorothy Stringer: 17:20 La Digital makes this all happen for us and we want them to get their props. So we’re going to break and have a little bit of fun with our advertisers and then we’ll be right back.

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Back from commercials. (HALFWAY) Continue reading.

Dorothy Stringer: 17:57 Okay. We are back with Marlon Aquino, the Social Media Guru, and owner of Social BuzzN. We left and we were talking about why is YouTube so important? Marlon, why don’t you take it from there.

Marlon Aquino: 18:11 Well, YouTube, I would say we were just talking about where your customers are. They’re on Instagram, what demographics, where everyone’s on YouTube – young people, old people. Everyone’s using YouTube because everyone’s looking either for information about how to do something.

Marlon Aquino: 18:28 Or tutorials. Reviews it is the great place to be there for any kind of business. Even for entrepreneurs just starting out, it’s a great place to start positioning yourself as a leader in the market, giving out information, educating your customers about why they should go to you and not to someone else. And not only that, but you don’t have to pay for it. You could just put up a video and people are automatically searching for the queries for the videos that you’re making about. So it’s definitely something that would compliment your business to do YouTube regardless of what other platforms you’re using. If your audience is on Instagram, you’re going to benefit by also leveraging YouTube. If your audience is on Facebook, you’re going to win big by leveraging YouTube. So it’s certainly that I definitely want to say that’s a given. You’ve got to do YouTube.

Dorothy Stringer: 19:22 Absolutely. And so we were talking about before the break we were talking about two schools of business owners that I know you’re going to encounter in North Hollywood and probably universally, but I just know about this community. So we were talking about the business owners that think that they know how to post. Now we’re going to talk about the business owners that have absolutely no clue, and are actually intimidated by social media and kind of do the whole ostrich head in the sand thing – it intimidates me too much so I don’t even want to think about it? I’m just going to put an ad in Groupon. So what shall we say to those business owners Marlon?

Marlon Aquino: 20:12 I’m honest. I tell them yes, it is, it is frustrating trying to deal with social media because there’s a lot that goes into it. Like vanity metrics, right? Likes doesn’t turn into sales and, or comments don’t necessarily turn into sales. So it really is about having an overall strategic plan. And I tell most businesses that those succeeding brands and bigger corporations are leveraging every kind of attention possible, whether it’s blogs on their website and then turning that blog into a podcast, then making a video and turning that video on YouTube into a podcast and then turning that into different formats so they can split on all the different platforms. It becomes time consuming. And I understand that most businesses don’t have the time for that. When you’re trying to do so many other things, then you started spreading yourself, and then it doesn’t work out for you.

Marlon Aquino: 21:08 So then what ends up happening? People say, well, I tried Facebook ads and it didn’t work for me. Well, what exactly have you done? What were the strategies that you did? What was your cost per click, let’s say? What was your click through rate? And people say, well, I don’t know what that is. And I go, well, that might be the reason why your ads are not succeeding. You’re not seeing the return on your investment that other businesses are seeing because it is working for businesses.

Marlon Aquino: 21:37 Facebook has grown to 2 billion users right now and I think they have over close to 6 million advertisers on there. So people are buying, advertising on these platforms is working. What you don’t want to do is spread yourself thin and try to take it upon yourself if that’s not your expertise, which is where I come in.

Marlon Aquino: 22:02 A lot of times businesses, are more concerned with what it is that they’re going to get out of their investments. Which like any, any business or any business owner, that’s a great question to ask. When it comes to marketing, there’s only so much that you can guarantee someone.

Marlon Aquino: 22:21 There are no guarantees, right? I mean the only guy I do say there is one guarantee and that is a, you’re going to get in front of people that don’t know of your business and now will.

Dorothy Stringer: 22:30 Well, with social media for sure. Traditional marketing, you couldn’t guarantee that either.

Marlon Aquino: 22:34 There’s a barbershop that I’d been recently working with that its location is kind of hidden. No one really knows of them. So for them social media, it’s going to be huge in the game because if no one knows about their location, they want to start in their neighborhood, and Facebook allows you to geo target people within a certain mile radius of your business location, which is a huge deal when you’re looking to get business in the door today.

Marlon Aquino: 23:04 So if you put an ad on Facebook for let’s say that barbershop and they’re running an ad with a special, for tomorrow or this time this week, you’re going to have appointments booking the next couple of days filling up those seats. But if you don’t even do that because you’re afraid of investing that money into social media, well then you’re doing yourself worse because now you have no one. You’re depending on all word of mouth. And if you’re a new business in a location word of mouth or referrals are going to be hard to come by unless we’re talking to your friends and family members.

Dorothy Stringer: 23:39 Exactly. Let’s go back to YouTube for a, for a minute. So you and I have had many discussions and one of our early discussions we talked about the basics of social media. Like Social Media One-on-One which, when we expose Marlon next week, we’re going to talk about this. Which starts off with, if you’re assigned to read a novel in school and it’s just like cover-to-cover and it’s this big thick book. You roll your eyes because you know, it’s probably, it could be the best written novel, but it’s going to be a very slow read because it’s just words. A whole massive words, but if the novel had pictures, it’d be a little bit of an easier read. And for goodness sake, if you could get the novel on video and not read it at all, just look at the video. That’s the way to go. And that’s how social media works. If you’re going to post at least post with a picture, and if you can do a video, by all means do a video. But like we were talking earlier, don’t just post a picture. You have to know what you’re posting. It has to be relevant. Those algorithms will kill you.

Marlon Aquino: 24:55 Not only that, but you want to know exactly what your objective is by posting. Is to get someone to click on the, on your only link on Instagram to get them to go to your website? Is it for them to make a phone call? Is it for them to book an appointment at your location? You have to know what it is and that your angle is so that when you’re posting, you’re doing it in a strategic forum where then you’re going to start seeing results.

Marlon Aquino: 25:19 But if you’re posting on your business, like you’re doing your personal business that don’t expect to see any actual results on social media, which is what tends to happen. One thing that I tell businesses about social media is a couple of things, which is, we’re all concerned with profits. Profits only come out of sales. People buying more and people buying more frequently. People only do that when their trust on the business that they’re dealing with goes up. So the more that you are in front of your ideal customers, even though they’re not ready to buy today, whenever they are, if you stay on top of mind, whenever they are ready, they’re going to go to you. Which is why I think brands like Apple, Coca Cola, McDonalds are so big. Even though these are big huge corporations that could probably do without advertising, because we know of them already. They don’t, they advertise more and spend more money than anything on advertising because it’s about staying fresh in the minds of your prospects. So if you’re not doing that and you’re just kind of depending on your customers to go, tell their family and friends with how hectic and chaotic our own personal lives can be, you’re kind of taking a gamble. It’s like going to Vegas and playing Russian roulette. I don’t know about you, but that’s not the way I like to run my business. So I tend to kind of want to have a plan set in place to execute. So once you start focusing on creating an Omni presence on social media, selling becomes a lot easier. You know, people become advocates of your business because you’re not just selling to them. They’re seeing the value that you have and how much and how you’re making their lives better.

Dorothy Stringer: 27:00 And that’s all so super important. I don’t care if you’re a big corporation like Coke or a small business. It’s very important to have a face to your business. A big business that I think of, Jack and Jack-in-the-Box or the Colonel with Colonel Sanders. And so, in the small business category, listen, business owners, you are the face of your business. And if you’re shy about making a video or whatever, get over it because, that is really that presence that Marlon is talking about. You becoming the face of your business, you are developing a trust factor with your potential customer before they walk in the door. They already know who you are. What is better than that?

Marlon Aquino: 27:50 I’ve had clients that are nervous about being in front of a camera. With my experience as an actor, there are techniques that I help them with. There are scripts that I give them but funny enough, once they’ve had a shot at doing one or two or three videos, they take flight and it becomes very easy for them. Before you know it, I’m going, hey wait, you don’t even really need me anymore. You’re doing so well in front of the camera and it really surprises them. And it’s one thing that I encourage them and say, hey, if it scares you it is probably the direction you need to go in.

Marlon Aquino: 28:29 And it’s important these days because with the noise and all the markets really, whether you’re in relationship or you’re in health or you’re in wealth, one of the things that you’re going to be thinking about is your personal branding, which I think is going to be a huge thing coming up, with all the noise. It’s really like well who do I go to because there’s tons of options? There’s not just the one dentist that you can go to. There’s not just, the one barbershop, there is not just the one. So how do I pick one? Whoa. Again, it’s the business that’s offered the most value, that’s done the most job at staying relevant in front of their customer’s eyes. So positioning is a big deal with we’re just like, hey, I stand apart from the rest of the people in my industry. I’m not just a generalist, I’m a specialist, and it’s what you kind of want to be because people always look to work with the best.

Dorothy Stringer: 29:28 That’s always been number one, but I think these days it’s super duper number one because it’s very hard to find trustworthy.

Marlon Aquino: 29:35 And social media as well, when you’re really proud about the work and the service that you’re providing to your customers and that is demonstrated on social media. People automatically are going to go on there and just comment and say, how do I join? How do I come in? How can I be this person that looks happy, with the result that they’ve gotten with this organization. And that’s really what it’s all about.

Dorothy Stringer: 29:59 Exactly. So I’ve been talking, teasing about exposing Marlon. So in the time that we have left, we want to talk about we’re chockfull of events. This Chamber is, this year, but we have one coming up relatively soon, a week from tomorrow. June 27th, we are having a Lunch and Learn. I had been approached by several Chamber members over the last several years, about doing a social media event, because, I’m somewhat knowledgeable in it myself and I kept kind of okay, we’ll do it, and then Marlon walked in the door and I got to know him and I thought, now’s the time to do it because between what I know and what he knows. And then we have another, a gentleman who’s going to be joining us and talk about how important video is. He calls it your video business card. His name is Evan Galliano. So the three of us, together, produce one tremendous force, in social media education. So we’re having the Lunch and Learn. And Marlon actually suggested the area, the place that we’re having it, it’s called Muddle and Twist.

Dorothy Stringer: 31:21 I guess Marlon, you’re a frequenter in there you’ve gone in there several times.

Marlon Aquino: 31:27 It is a new business in the North Hollywood area. It’s a great restaurant. I believe they serve barbecue and whatnot, and they’re generous enough to offer those that do come at 10% discount on the food and drinks. As well as there will be happy hour, so I’m just saying.

Dorothy Stringer: 31:42 Well, but we don’t want you to partake in that happy hour until after we’ve educated you in our little Lunch and Learn that’s between 12 and 2, on June 27th at Muddle and Twist. We have information on our Facebook page. And so basically, in that two hours, Marlon, me and Evan are each going to take a half an hour and we’re going to talk about different aspects of social media. And then the last half hour we’re going to open up to Q and A. And of course, Marlon and Evan will be available afterward’s if people want to sit down with them and talk to them and hire them. If you’re absolutely insistent on trying your social media on your own to start, we’re going to give you basics that will really help. I guarantee you, no matter what you’re doing now it’s going to, make it better. Ultimately, ultimately, I really would suggest, I have my own, aside from the Chamber, I have my own, nonprofits and I have a couple of them and I don’t even do my own social media for them. I don’t have the time, between working, doing the Chamber and my entertainment and the two nonprofits that I have.

Dorothy Stringer: 33:12 Right. I mean, and I would rather have somebody like Marlon who can drive that for me while I drive the businesses and do what I need to do. I would really, really, really suggest that you come to this Lunch and Learn. Get to know Marlon, get to know Evan and you will see, I don’t want to corner you into pricing because of course pricing varies depending on what people are doing. And don’t listen to podcasts and go, of course she’s going to say it’s relatively inexpensive. You guys know me by now. I’m not going to say it, if it’s not true. Would you say, Marlon, that, um, your fees are relatively inexpensive considering?

Marlon Aquino: 34:00 it really is. If you guys look into all the agencies right now with all the overhead that they have there. They’ve got employees that they’ve got to cut off. They’ve got softwares and devices right now. It’s just me. Right now I’m currently looking to take possibly, no more than 10 clients. I currently am working with four, so I’ve got space for just a couple more that I’m going to pick up. And what I’m going to be doing is running a special for all members of the Chamber of Commerce. For anyone that reaches out to me, I’ll be speaking about the different deals that I have for those Chamber of Commerce members.

Dorothy Stringer: 34:37 Okay, great. All right, well, I hope that you’ve enjoyed this as much as I have. You know what’s interesting about Marlon, he spent a lot of time, in the short time that I’ve known him he spent quite a lot of time in the office. And, I was a little worried about doing the podcast with you today because I thought, well how do I make it fresh? But every time I’m with you, I learned something new.

Dorothy Stringer: 35:09 And I appreciate you coming in and we hope that a bunch of people, I don’t know if this podcast is going to air by next week, probably not. But, if you guys have been to our Lunch and Learn next weekend, are hearing this podcast now and you haven’t contacted Marlon yet, Marlon, how can they get ahold of you?

Marlon Aquino: 35:30 You can reach me on my Instagram page, it’s AquinoMarlon. That’s a-q-u-i-n-o-m-a-r-l-o-n, so it’s just mine, my full name Marlon Aquino. And you can also go to my website at www.socialbuzzn.com. That’s s-o-c-i-a-l-b- as in boy, u-z-z-n. So no, i-n on that buzzn, just buzzn, like, buzzn.

Dorothy Stringer: 35:57 And let’s say that they just absolutely have no way to get in touch with you digitally can they call the Chamber?

Marlon Aquino: 36:04 Of course they can call the Chamber, as you guys I’ve heard, I spent plenty of time there as well. I’m just a phone number away by calling the Chamber.

Dorothy Stringer: 36:13 And that number just in case all those like millions of people that don’t know the Chamber number. I hope not. It’s (818) 508-5155. All right, well thanks again Marlon.

Marlon Aquino: 36:28 No problem. Thank you so much Dorothy, for having me here. It’s been great and I can’t wait to do this again.

Dorothy Stringer: 36:32 All right, well thank you once again for listening to us. I hope you enjoyed the information as much as I did. My name is Dorothy Stringer, and I look forward to being with you again on the next edition of Chamber Chat.

Digital marketing involves a series of activities including SEO, SEM, Content marketing, Email marketing, and social media marketing.

From these various sub-niches of digital marketing are so many other activities a business owner needs to understand to make meaningful use of the internet to attract customers. In this article, I will limit my discussion to social media and why you need to use it to market your business and attract customers.

What is social media?

Social media refers to the different online communication channels that bring people of varying background together as members of a community with the purpose of sharing useful information.

There are different types of social media channels. These SM channels include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn and so many others; as of January 2018, Social Media Active users are more than 3 billion people worldwide.

With the internet having over 4 billion, social media has the largest potential to help small businesses reach their customers and make more sales.

Below are five reasons you should leverage social media for your marketing:

Find your target audience. Social media are organized according to interest. Facebook, for instance, wants to bring people together so you can connect with friends and share useful and beneficial stories. You can use such interest line to locate a group of Facebook users whose shares your business interest.

Drive traffic to your business. If you own a website or have a local store, you can use social media to advertise your product and attract traffic. As at July 2018, Facebook has over 2 billion active users; these are everyday people you can attract to your business.

Build trust with your customers. Your customer needs to trust you before they can buy from you. The beauty of social media is bringing you face to face with your customers where you have the opportunity to interact with them and know what they want and prove your worth to them.

Build brand recognition. Social media provides the opportunity for small businesses to create brand awareness. This used to be the exclusive preserve of large corporation like coca cola who have the financial power to engage branding professionals.

Increase sales. Because social media brings you to your customers, it helps to boost sales by converting new customers with ease.

How can you leverage social media for your business? Giving the technicality of effective use of social media for business it advisable to engage social media services to deliver cutting-edge social media service for you.

You will need a digital marketing specialist to help you leverage social media for your business.

Outsourcing your social media marketing gives you the opportunity to focus on your core business offering. This will save you from wasting your resources on paid advertising without commensurate due to the steep learning curve involved.